Interactions of amyloid β peptide 1-40 and cerebrosterol.

Amyloid β peptides appear to play a role in physiological processes; however, they are also involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Their actions under normal conditions are probably mediated by soluble monomeric L-isoforms at low concentrations, perhaps via highly specific interactions. On the contrary, toxic effects of aggregated natural L-isoforms/synthetic D-isoforms on membranes are very similar, but synthetic reverse/random L: -isoforms without pronounced aggregation properties are not toxic. Our previous work reported interactions of non-aggregated/aggregated L-isoforms of amyloid β peptides 1-40/1-42 with racemic 24-hydroxycholesterol. In this study, stereospecificity in the interactions of natural 24(S)hydroxycholesterol (cerebrosterol) or synthetic 24(R)hydroxycholesterol with soluble fragment 1-40 was evaluated by means of an in vitro test based on increased vulnerability of the hemicholinium-3 sensitive high-affinity choline uptake system in rat hippocampal cholesterol-depleted synaptosomes to the actions of amyloid β; computational simulations were also performed. Our results suggest that: (1) 24(S)hydroxycholesterol interacts with L-peptide 1-40 but not with the reverse L-peptide 40-1, (2) 24(R)hydroxycholesterol does not interact with L-peptide 1-40 or reverse 40-1, and (3) both enantiomers can probably interact with D-peptide 1-40. Therefore, the binding of 24(S)hydroxycholesterol is not fully stereospecific and the interaction could not reflect a physiological mechanism. Data from the computational simulation indicate that the hydrophobic core of the amyloid β molecule interacts with the hydrophobic part of 24(S)hydroxycholesterol, but no hydrogen bonds with high stability were found. Using this procedure, globular amyloid β could retain 24(S)hydroxycholesterol and thus contribute to its pathological accumulation in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease.